Urban Innovation & Creative Sector Designer

Details

Mission and objectives

UNDP is the United Nations largest agency with a mandate to eradicate poverty, through sustainable and inclusive human development. UNDP has been in Nigeria since the country became independent in 1960 providing capacity building and policy development support to the Federal Government of Nigeria in areas of Governance & Peace Building, Inclusive growth, and Sustainable Development. UNDP continues to support the government in the implementation of development interventions aimed at meeting medium to long term goals enshrined in National and Subnational development plans as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. The goal of UNDP is to improve the lives of the people of Nigeria, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, and to ensure a future that offers equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. UNDP works in partnership with the federal Government of Nigeria, development partners, UN agencies, civil society and local communities to help identify local solutions to meet global and national development challenges through a range of interventions that combine UNDP’s expertise and comparative advantage in the areas of Governance & Peace Building, Inclusive growth and Sustainable Development.

Context

Creative sector and industries which include performing arts, crafts, advertising, design, entertainment, architecture, literature, multi-media among others, are a vital force in accelerating human development. If well-nurtured, the creative economy can trigger sustainable human development and socio-economic transformation and growth. The creative economy is an essential source of commercial and cultural value. Creative arts industries are vibrant sectors of the global economy. They account for 7% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), growing at an annual rate of 8.7%. The global market for traded creative goods and services totalled a record USD 547 billion in 2012 with exports from developing countries totalling about USD 272 billion. According to UNESCO, creative industries account for more than 30 million jobs globally, employing more young people aged 15-29 worldwide than any other sector. In many countries in Africa, for example, we are seeing the creative industry contribute significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Nigeria as a notable case which rebased its economy on the significant contribution of the creative industry such as ‘Nollywood’. In Nigeria, creative industries contributed approximately US $18 billion to GDP (World Bank 2020). Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are creating a new realm of opportunity in Africa. Available analytics point out that the sector is on the verge of becoming one of the major drivers of sustainable development and economic growth in the continent. The sector is estimated to employ about 2,4 million people albeit mostly through the informal economy and generates $ US 58 billion in revenue on the continent, which represents 1.1% of the continent´s GDP. Evidence shows that CCIs employ a much larger share of young people than other sectors. The Creative Industries provide youth -and especially women- with the chance to become entrepreneurs. While the country has influential creatives, there isn’t a clear talent pipeline for nurturing the next generation of creatives – including diversifying options beyond Lagos. UNDP’s programmatic response in Nigeria through the 2023-227 Country Programme Document recognises these opportunities and outlines two key objectives: socio-economic recovery in the medium term and structural transformation for inclusive and sustainable development as pathways towards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030. Job creation, innovation and youth empowerment are key pathways of transformation, and the creative economy is identified as a strategic lever of growth.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Head of UNDP Lagos and Chief Innovation Officer (ai) or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteers will: • Explore opportunities for solving urbanization challenges in collaboration with creatives, entrepreneurs, and startups. • Initiate and sustain regular engagement with creative sector actors in Nigeria – identifying opportunities for partnership with UNDP. • Support efforts to design avenues and pathways for incubating and accelerating creative sector start-ups, venture builders, and talent pipelines across strategic value chains. • As a sub-set to the Lean Innovation Facility, the working with key team identifies entry points for supporting urban innovators, creative sector startups especially those leveraging tech and digital for transformation. • Nurture partnerships with community of startups, entrepreneurs, creatives building solutions to address urban challenges. • Establish platforms / learning communities, festivals and urban sensing, creative sector engagements. • Nurture partnerships for structuring blended financing instruments, sharing best practices and experiences, skilling, and talent capacity development, building an enabling regulatory environment, tackling other challenges of creative economy.